Previous exhibition

Between Severn and Wye

An exhibition to celebrate these two great rivers and the countryside between them, in the spirit of the old Herefordshire proverb 'Blessed is the eye between Severn and Wye'. 

The both rise on the mountain of Plynlimon in west Wales, taking different directions to eventualy converge in the Bristol Channel.

The river catchment contains many tributeries that refresh and water the regions of mid-Wales, flowing over the border down into the English counties towards Chepstow and the Servern Estuary. The area between the rivers is one of the most beautiful regions of Britian, containing many historic towns and villages as well as deeply rural countryside. 

Martin Eldridge

Studied painting at Newcastle University & the Royal Academy Schools followed by an Italian Government Scholarship.

He has exhibited in mixed shows at the R.A., R.B.S.A., Mall & Bankside Galleries. He shows at present with the Fosse gallery Stow on the Wold. His current work is focused on London cityscapes & digital abstracts

The paintings and one pastel in this exhibition take as subject- matter the view from the artist’s house in Shrewsbury overlooking the river Severn.

The works are in response to the way in which the changing seasons, light & weather can transform essentially the same view of a landscape.

Web site Martin eldridgeartist.co.uk

Robert Cunning 

Robert Cunning lived and taught in London for 20 years but now lives and works in rural Shropshire. 

 A common thread of his paintings is that they evoke a strong sense of place, whether it is the deep rural hills of South Shropshire and the Welsh Marches, or the inner cityscapes of London and New York. His paintings observe the changing architectural spaces of our cities and the seasonal changes of the countryside. W. G. Sebald commented:  “Places seem to me to have some kind of memory, in that they activate memory in those who look at them.”The memory of places is a key to some of the paintings.  The impressive mountains and hills of Wales and the borderland contain ancient rock formations and fossils, giving clues to the history of earlier times. The river estuary of London was once covered in forest, the remnants of which are revealed by tides to this day. His training as a gilder and frame-maker naturally inclined him towards the preparation of gesso for frames and panels. The smooth surface of the gesso allows the images to emerge with great clarity. The paintings are built up slowly with many layers of thin oil paint which are blended together while still wet.

Michelle Anderson

Michelle Anderson has exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions locally and further afield, as well as with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and with the Royal Institute of oil painters at the Mall galleries, winning the Tony Merrick Memorial prize in 2020.The slice of landscape between these two great rivers is where I am lucky enough to live. It’s a rich source of material for the painter. Arable pasture, meadow, hedgerow, wood and stream present innumerable subjects already composed, to extract from and interpret. I gather information for paintings from trips out into the countryside to draw or paint. These are either finished in situ or worked up later in the studio. I try to capture the feeling of being in the landscape or a fleeting moment of shifting light or weather, or the quiet presence of a mountain or perhaps a church. One small piece can lead to many others, sometimes becoming abstracted as they depart from the original.